INFORMATION BILL STILL AWAITS CABINET NOD, SAYS MINISTER

Fri, 22 Sep 2017 13:01:59 +0000

By Annie Zulu

THE Access to Information Bill will be presented to Parliament for enactment as soon as the cabinet approval process is complete, Minister of Information and Broadcasting Kampamba Mulenga has said.

Ms Mulenga, who is Chief Government spokesperson, however, noted that the right to access to information was included in the expanded bill of rights that was rejected during the referendum of 2016.

She said had the referendum question been resolved in the affirmative, the matter could have been made a lot easier.

She also said the delay to present the bill was due to the need to review the pieces of legislation that would impede on the implementation of the Access to Information Bill.

“There were 13 pieces of legislation that would impede on the implementation of the access to information bill. These pieces of legislation will have to be amended by the ministry of justice.

“Some of the pieces of legislation to be amended is the interpretation and general provisions act Cap 2, the Zambia Security Intelligence Service act No. 14 of 1998, the State Security cap 111, the penal code cap 87 and the Defamation Act cap 68 among others,” Ms Mulenga said.

She said Government remained committed to ensuring that the pieces of legislation were worked on as soon as possible.